"He’d never lavish praise on dictators"

“I’m not going to sugarcoat it,” he told The Guardian. “I know there are worries among friends and allies that the United States could just rip up treaties and norms if we just ping pong back and forth from one election to another. But I think Joe Biden’s presence is reassuring. I wouldn’t speak for the vice-president and his team, but it’s clear for anyone who has known him and worked with him and watched him over many years, just how much he values our European alliances. He traveled for decades on the foreign relations committee in the Senate to learn and listen and get to know dozens of young parliamentarians who grew up to become prime ministers and foreign ministers.”

“I think his unique credibility and years of relationships in Europe will help restore those alliances on day one of a Biden presidency. I know he’s respected, and he earned those relationships. In 2008, when Russian tanks rolled into a neighboring country called Georgia, it was Joe Biden who immediately picked up the phone, and called an old friend, who happened to be the president of the country. So Joe got on a plane, flew all night, and sat on a hilltop in Georgia with the president of our democratic ally and made it clear the United States stands with allies. People remember those moments.”